The invention relates to telecommunication systems and, in particular, to telecommunications systems in which calls are monitored and processed based on the time zone at the calling communication terminal.
Placing calls within and across time zones can cause inconveniences for the called party. For example, when the caller calls from a communication terminal, such as a desktop telephone, located in one time zone to a target communication terminal located in another time zone, the caller may be unaware of the local time of the target communication terminal. The caller may unknowingly place a call to a target communication terminal at an odd hour (e.g. 1:00 a.m.), because the caller mistakenly calculated the time difference between the originating communication terminal and the target communication terminal or because the caller was unaware of the time difference. Furthermore, a called party may be inconvenienced even if a caller calls within the same time zone as the called party, because the called party does not want to be disturbed at that time.
To overcome problems relating to the time zone differences between calling parties and called parties, several approaches have been suggested. One prior approach to handling unwanted calls based on the time zone differences between the calling party and called party is suggested by UK Patent Application GB 2 284 965 by Seppo (Seppo). Seppo discloses a system for automatically providing a calling party with the time of day within the geographical area of the called party. The calling telephone is configured to extract the prefix of each telephone number dialed by a caller and to use the extracted prefix to determine the time difference between the geographical areas of the two telephones. The local time at the called telephone is then indicated on a display at the calling telephone. Thus, each telephone must have sufficient memory to store data which enables the telephone to recognize the various prefixes. The memory must be periodically updated to reflect area code changes and additions. Moreover, Seppo does not disclose any means for preventing a call placed at an undesirable time from being connected. Therefore, if the calling party misreads the display or does not pay attention to the display, the call may still be connected even if it is made at an undesirable time for the called party.
Another approach to overcome the time zone difference problem has been to place the telephone xe2x80x9coff-hook.xe2x80x9d However, such a solution would inconvenience the called party in other ways, such as not receiving any outside calls, including emergency and urgent calls. Further, when the telephone is placed off-hook, it may generate an annoying alert signal, usually followed by a recorded announcement.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,818,920 to Rignell et al. (Rignell) discloses a system for preventing calls placed at undesirable times from being connected when the calling party and the called party are located in different time zones. In particular, Rignell describes a communications system in which calls can be forwarded from a target terminal to a new terminal. The call-forwarding system includes a prevention device to selectively prevent communication connections to either a target or new terminal when the calling communication terminal and the target or new communication terminal are located in different time zones. The prevention means can inform the calling terminal of the local time of the target or new communication terminal and allow the connection to be established only after receiving verification from the calling communication terminal, or can simply prohibit the connection from occurring during certain time periods. Even though Rignell allows emergency and urgent calls to be completed by establishing a forwarding connection only after receiving verification from the calling party when the calling party is calling from a different time zone, Rignell does not disclose any means for preventing a call placed at an undesirable time from being automatically connected when the calling party and the called party are located within the same time zone. That is, if the called party does not want to be disturbed during certain time periods, even if the call is made at a xe2x80x9cnormalxe2x80x9d hour (e.g. 1:00 p.m.), by a calling party located within the same time zone as the called party, the call will automatically be connected. Moreover, by simply prohibiting the call during certain time periods, the call-forwarding system of Rignell does not allow an emergency or urgent call to be connected.
What is needed is a method and a system that provide time-dependent monitoring of communication connections to a target communication terminal when a call is initiated within the same time zone or in a different time zone as the target communication terminal, so that the incoming call will not automatically be connected to the target communication terminal.
A method and a system are configured to monitor communication connections to a target communication terminal during predetermined time periods and to prevent calls placed during selected times from being automatically connected to the target communication terminal, whether the incoming call originated from within the same time zone or from a different time zone in which the target communication terminal resides. In the preferred embodiment, the communications are incoming telephone calls, but the method and system may be applied to any notification system, e.g. pager applications. Moreover, in the preferred embodiment, the monitoring by the telecommunication system is implemented in a telephony-over-local area network (LAN) or xe2x80x9cTOLxe2x80x9d application to allow the handling of telephone calls via any one of a number of networked computers.
In a first step, the user of a target communication terminal selects the predetermined time periods when the telecommunications system will monitor the communication connections to the target communication terminal. In a preferred embodiment, selecting the predetermined time periods to monitor the incoming calls is carried out by the user of the target communication terminal utilizing a web-based interface. In another embodiment, selecting the predetermined time periods to monitor the incoming calls is carried out by the user of the target communication terminal utilizing an audio menu on a voice response system.
The telecommunication system also maintains a database of area codes and country codes, enabling the system to determine whether a call is originating from within the same time zone as the target communication terminal or outside the time zone of the target communication terminal. To make the determination whether to monitor the call during the predetermined time period, a comparison is performed using the caller identification information, which is passed along the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to the target communication terminal, with the location data within the database. The database is accessed when the system is programmed to monitor exclusively incoming calls from the same time zone as the target communication terminal or to monitor exclusively incoming calls from a different time zone than the target communication terminal. When the system is programmed to monitor all incoming calls, regardless of the caller""s originating time zone, there is not a need to access the database to determine the time zone from which the call is originating.
In a preferred embodiment, the TOL client detects an incoming call from a calling communication terminal and determines whether the call is within a predetermined time period which was previously configured by the user of the target communication terminal. If the incoming call is not within a predetermined time period, then the call will automatically be connected. However, if the timing of the call is within a predetermined time period in which all incoming calls are to be monitored, the TOL client will: (i) play a message informing the caller of the local time of the target communication terminal; (ii) play an announcement indicating that the call is being made within a predetermined time period in which all calls within the time zone and different time zone as the target communication terminal are being monitored; and (iii) offer the caller the option of abandoning the call before it is connected.
In order to minimize memory requirements, only the area codes and country codes for geographical locations having the same time as the target communication terminal need to be stored. Consequently, in an application in which the caller has called within a predetermined time period during which only calls within the same time zone as the target communication terminal are being monitored, then the TOL client must cross-check the database to determine whether the area code or country code that is extracted from the caller identification information matches an area code or country code within the database. When there is a match, the call is originating within the same time zone as the target communication terminal and the TOL client will carry out the aforementioned steps.
The method and the system enable a user of a target communication terminal to select an option of preventing calls from a particular calling communication terminal during a predetermined time period, regardless of the time zone in which the particular calling communication resides while at the same time allowing in emergency and urgent calls when need be. While the system is activated during the predetermined time periods, outgoing calls will be unaffected. At the end of the programmed time period, the target communication terminal will automatically be restored to normal operation.